1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to skin decals and, more particularly, to a safety skin appliqué kit for parents and custodians of children, disabled persons, and the elderly, that provides a noticeable plea for help if lost, and custodian contact information, so that if the dependent does become lost passersby will notice the appliqué, read the contact information, and call the guardian.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The risk of having children or disabled adults lost during a visit to a public or private place is a concern for the host, parents, guardians and other responsible persons. The risk is increased in places where large numbers of persons are moving about freely, such as airports, shopping malls, stadiums and amusement parks. Facilities having activities oriented toward children, such as sports and entertainment complexes pose a particular concern because they operate in large areas with multiple exits. Once separated from their custodian, children can be manipulated or persuaded to make poor decisions which compromise their safety. Experts have reported that children have a much greater chance of avoiding harm if they are found within a short period of time. In order to maximize their safety, it is desirable to quickly locate lost children.
The owners and operators of such facilities spend time and effort to provide security in the form of controlled entrances and exits, video monitoring, security employees and other measures. However, it is extremely rare for either the host or custodian to attach simple identification tags or badges to the person of the child. Even if they did such badges or tags serve only to identify the wearer and do nothing to reunite them with their custodian. Moreover, tags and badges are impermanent and can easily be taken off by children.
One solution is to draw an emergency phone number directly on the child's skin with non-toxic temporary or permanent ink. However, this is very difficult for most people to do with any accuracy, and the result often lacks the color contrast necessary for others to see the number, especially on dark skin. The use of a bright background and dark numbers improves visual impact and rapid identification, and a consistent size or shape or silhouette of the appliqué helps to increase the public's association with its purpose. For these reasons it is more practical to place the number on a separate sheet of material, prior to applying the material to the body.
Temporary tattoos are well-known for aesthetic purposes, and generally include an ink transfer. Examples of such temporally tattoos are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,898,357, 5,421,765, 5,578,353, and 5,601,859, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,864 to Humason et al. provides general background on the structure of temporary tattoos, as well as fabrication materials and methods.
Temporary tattoos have also been used for identification.
For example, United States Patent Application 20050258635 by Dominguez shows a method and apparatus for notification of guardians of location of lost persons by applying a temporary tattoo to the skin of a child or other person who might get lost including the telephone number for directly contacting the guardian. The indicia may also include the name of the person on which it is imparted and directions on contacting a third party if the phone number displayed receives no response.
United States Patent Application 20070107625 by Anderson et al. discloses a particular micro-particle temporary tattoo ink and suggests use for identification markings for humans, for example, emergency information regarding an individual's medical history, “dog-tags” on military personnel, and identification markings on newborn babies to ensure no hospital mix-ups; and identification markings for animals (such as wild animals, livestock, sportlshow animals, and pets), for example, information markings for the return of lost pets.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,786 to Cromett (Mattel) issued Jul. 24, 2001 shows a user-created temporary tattoo structure and method of creating a custom temporary tattoo using a PC and printer, in which the user prints an image on a coated sheet, then covers the image with a film, attaches the film/image/coating laminate to skin, and removes a backing sheet to release the image on the skin. This allows a user to create an image on a computer, print the image using a computer printer, and then safely apply the image to human skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,952 to Lipper shows an identification card with integral removable tattoo including a coated card stock sheet similar to a greeting card and having at least one surface bearing a printed section to be filled in with information about the particular child bearing the card. The tattoo identification card also comprises a removable tattoo displaying information to connect it to the card.
United States Patent Application 20020164285 by Berryman et al. shows a kit containing tattoos for identifying and conveying patient information about medical and surgical patients.
Despite the merits of the concept, conventional temporary tattoos have drawbacks. They are semi-translucent and print information appearing thereon can be difficult to read, especially on dark skin. A more opaque skin applique with high contrast information would be more desirable. Moreover, temporary tattoos are not durable enough. In a protected environment they can last a few days. In a theme park they can last a few hours. In a water park or at the beach, they last a few minutes. Of course, the amount of washing and rubbing to which the tattoo is exposed, and the durability of the tattoo are factors here. In addition, temporary tattoos must be wetted with a warm wet sponge, washcloth or paper towel, and then dried thoroughly. This can take several minutes and is not easy to do with small excited children seeking to enter an amusement park, and the parent must have access to a restroom inasmuch as the water and sponge cannot be included in the packaging. Finally, because of the potentially extended time of contact between the tattoo and a wearer of the tattoo, there is a realistic concern that the inks used could be absorbed through the skin, resulting in possible injury to the wearer of the tattoo, even though the quantity of ink required to produce a tattoo may be quite small. Accordingly, the construction of temporary tattoos according to the prior techniques has been limited to the use of carefully selected, non-toxic inks. There is a need for a skin appliqué made with completely non-toxic ink as found in some digital printers.
What is needed is a turn-key kit that allows parents and guardians to place a standout marking on their charges containing a combination of pre-printed and custom printed indicia, the placement requiring minimum time and effort, and no accessories that must be provided separately, and which will last even in challenging environments such as water parks.